This street is the main artery of Dublin’s northside. Mike had arrived in Dublin a day before John
and was eager to show us some of
the sites he had discovered. This street, one of the widest in the city, was the first one to which he guided us. Daniel O’Connell was a politician
who lived from 1775 to 1847. He
campaigned for Catholic emancipation and repeal of the Acts of Union which
combined Great Britain and Ireland. His
statue on O’Connell street is titled “The Liberator”. The winged figures by his side represent his
bravery, patriotism, fidelity, and eloquence.
We passed by this statue on our tour bus on another day and our guide
pointed out bullet holes on the winged figures they hit this landmark in the
1916 rebellion.
Another important figure for Ireland is that of the
well-known Irish author James Joyce. There
is a James
Pictured at the bottom of this posting is the "Dublin Spire", a 398 foot stainless steel post in the background of that photo. It is also called “Monument of Light”, and is one of the newer landmarks on this street. There were big plans for this monument, including a revolving platform at the top- but funds ran out. It has a variety of nicknames as “the stiletto in the ghetto” ," the pike in the dike” or “nail in the pale”. Have to be a Dubliner to understand them!
There are a couple other monuments on O’Connell but I would
rather finish this with some bit of humor.
However, it is necessary to move to another part of Dublin, to the Molly
Malone statue. Do you know the Irish
song of Molly and how she was a fishmonger selling cockles and mussels? Had another business at night. Here she is with her fish cart. Her breasts are a bit shiny from well, I can
only imagine that some visitors to dear Molly have enjoyed giving her a bit of
a rub!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment